Using the iOS Drafts App to Add RTM Tasks

bonwag says:

Having recently acquired the excellent 'Drafts' app for my iDevices, I was hoping to find a 'Send to RTM' facility in there. In its absence, I've built one which I hope others find useful.

Drafts is a deceptively simple text entry app which fires up quickly and allows you to easily and quickly enter text. Its real power shines in its ability to then send that text to a surprisingly large number of iOS tools and Apps. It's a friction-free way of getting text into twitter, email, facebook, calendars, and a host of other tools from a single window.

Why use Drafts when you have a perfectly good, clean RTM client for entering tasks? I've found it's convenient to use Drafts when 'on the run' and to switch over to RTM when you have time to think.

Drafts has a URL-based API that allows you to click on the following link (or copy it into a mobile safari window) to add it to the Draft 'URL Actions' list. Then you can fire it up, type your task and 'Send to RTM'. (You do need to have recently logged in, and this opens up a pre-filled task window which you then submit - but it's a click or two less than using the official client'\)

You should try creating a Drafts email action and use your RTM email address. The first line of the Draft will be the task name. Leaving it at that would immediately send your task to your inbox. This would save you from having to log in to RTM.

Also, if you happen to use TextExpander on your iOS device you could also set up a snippet that pre-fills other pieces of the task, like due date, list name, priority, etc. For example I use a snippet called rtmt that looks like this:

%|List: PersonalDue: todayPriority:

The %| places the cursor on the top line so you can just type in the name of the task and then hit the "Send to RTM" action.

Posted 2 years ago

bonwag says:

Nice one, toddb - that's a much better option, and it works well 'offline'. I'm swapping my method for yours (at least until RTM gets the x-callback-URL support it desperately needs :) )

Posted 2 years ago

arunaugustine says:

hopefully we can collectively pressure drafts to integrate RTM :)

Posted 2 years ago

jonlee317 says:

As I was posting in the wrong forum (the Help Forum):

You can set up your iOS default reminders as RTM via the Add to SIRI method.

This way, when you use the drafts app, you can simply type your task and add to reminders! Your task will magically appear in the RTM inbox! =)

But too bad it doesn't seem to support Smart Add Syntax! =\

Posted 2 years ago

mlapida says:

I've noticed that the URL scheme 'rtm://' will open Remember the Milk, but nothing will be entered in. Does anyone know if I'm just missing some parameters, or is this functionality incomplete? It seems like this would be the best method for creating RTM tasks from drafts.

Posted 2 years ago

meghanclare says:

I've tried the above method with Drafts, copying and pasting the script. It adds a task, but the task does not have the proper date associated with it.

Instead I set up an email action that uses the fist line as the subject. I'm able to use smart syntax to include due date, priority, tagging. However, my task includes as a note that first line.

Loving Drafts and would like to find a good solution. Any more ideas?

Thanks.

Posted 2 years ago

meghanclare says:

Hmm. I think I figured out what I'm doing wrong. I need to delete the subject from the body of the email once I'm presented with the email (after using the RTM action). Ok, but tedious. You have to do the same when you use smart syntax in the subject line, or be annoyed by seeing the smart syntax in your task.

Wish there was a cleaner solution.

Posted 2 years ago

meghanclare says:

A ha! When setting up your RTM action in Email actions, be sure to have [[body]] selected instead of [[draft]], which will copy all of the Drafts content--except the first line. Boo ya.